Connecting With People

Last week was full of visiting with people - both old and new acquaintances.

Thursday evening we went out for supper with two couples, Filipino of Chinese descent. The men, Henry and Octavio (Tabing = nickname) were both former students of mine when I was here in 1999. In addition to their business, Henry is involved in pastoral training and equipping ministry in China. He brings teachers from overseas and gathers small groups of pastors in China for training. They meet in a hotel, rent a suite room, and do their training in the room. They will switch to another hotel part way through the week so that they don't gather any attention. Octavio is retired from a family electrical supplies business. He is the one who is a member at a golf club who has taken me golfing on previous trips.

Friday night, Grace and I spoke on the topic of parenting teenagers with a group of about 25 at The Living Christian Church - a Chinese church which we attended last month with our Canadian Consul Robert Lee and his wife. The evening began with a large spread of food, the focal point being lechon which is Filipino for a young pig cooked on a rotisserie and served whole, head to toe. You simply attack the pig with knife or fork or fingers and enjoy pork! A very fattening meal but delicious none-the-less. (see Grace's post below)

Saturday, my former student, Octavio and his wife, took our family to Alta Vista, the golf course where he is a member. And NO we didn't golf to my dismay! :) We went swimming, feasted on a variety of Filipino food and went bowling. The golf course includes a massive recreational and conference complex.

Then Saturday evening, we invited our Filipino gym trainers to our home. My trainer, Miko, likes to cook and so we went to a grocery store where he picked out the food and I paid for it. Then we went home and watched him create six Filipino dishes plus rice. It was a delicious meal and we enjoyed our time together. Miko's fiancé, Joanne, also came (Joanne is Grace's trainer). However, our other trainer and his girlfriend backed out at the last minute.

Sunday morning, we visited a new church, Quest. - they meet in a theatre-like auditorium, high tech audio and visual equipment. We met another former student of mine, Phillip, who is a Pastor of Youth there. He was so shocked and thrilled to see me. He was involved for several years in an EFC church here in Cebu and left the EFC three years ago to join with an American Baptist missionary in planting this new church. It has had a lot of foreign money pumped into it and has a look and feel of a North American modern church - very mission driven with strongly communicated core values, very high energy, practical, strong children and youth programs. In three years it has grown to close to 300 with a staff of six. I will be spending more time with Phillip in our remaining weeks here.

Sunday noon we had lunch with the small team of EFC missionaries who are here (a number are on home assignment).

Sunday evening we had a family movie night with Dan and Amy Bush, a missionary couple who are here short term from the USA - he is a professor at a seminary that is a joint venture of the EFC and a Baptist denomination.

Monday, tonight, we pick up Whitney from the airport. We look forward to having her as part of our family for a few weeks.